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Security cameras are to appear at four more intersections in Columbus neighborhoods by summer,
with plans for 80 to 100 more cameras this year.

Since last year, the city has placed 111 cameras in five neighborhoods: Weinland Park, South
Linden, the Hilltop, the Mount Vernon area on the Near East Side, and the Livingston Avenue area
just east of Downtown. Officials say the cameras have succeeded in thwarting drug deals,
prostitution and other crimes.

The four new intersections that will receive 12 cameras are: Fairwood and Livingston avenues; E.
Main Street and Champion Avenue; Kent Street and Seymour Avenue; and S. 22nd Street and E. Rich
Street. The new cameras, which would cost $172,000, need the final approval of the City
Council.

The Main and Champion intersection has been a hot spot for problems in past years. Drug dealers
have worked the area. In September, Dominique Johnson, 22, was shot and killed at the intersection
after an argument.

The Columbus Compact already has placed eight of its own cameras along E. Main Street. Those
cameras, along with police patrols, have reduced criminal activity, said Jonathan Beard, who leads
the nonprofit development group.

The new city cameras also will help to “protect and defend our turf,” Beard said.

The city spent $2 million on neighborhood cameras last year, and it plans to spend another $2
million this year if the council adopts Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s $395 million capital-improvement
budget for 2012.

“We believe it’s a wise investment,” said Dan Giangardella, the city’s deputy safety director,
after a council hearing yesterday on the cameras.

Police say that cameras deter criminal activity. Cameras along Sullivant Avenue in the Hilltop
helped identify a sexual-assault suspect. Cameras in Weinland Park showed a vehicle used in a
burglary.

Officials did not know a specific number of arrests from incidents that the cameras
recorded.

The city places cameras on utility poles at locations considered problem areas for crime. Input
from police officers and neighborhood leaders guides placement decisions.

Connie Boykin, a member of the Columbus South Side Area Commission, said at the hearing that the
cameras seem to push crime into his neighborhood. He asked for cameras at Frebis and Lockbourne
roads and three other intersections, and at Deshler and Fairwood parks.

Some have raised concerns that the cameras could invade people’s privacy, although city Safety
Director Mitchell J. Brown said he has heard no complaints.

Trent Smith, executive director of the Franklinton Board of Trade, said residents and
businesspeople in his community are beyond worrying about privacy. They want the cameras.